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FC: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo: SHUT UP AND LISTEN!
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 11:33:40 -0500
[I second what John says. --Declan] ----- Forwarded message from John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> ----- From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> Subject: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo: SHUT UP AND LISTEN! To: declan () well com, gnu () toad com Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 08:12:20 -0800 Here's a sequence of five messages, starting from an unsolicited message that Rep. Eshoo sent me about the California electricity crisis, and my attempts to reply to it. Lessons for aspiring politican emailers: (1) This voter now clearly understands that Ms. Eshoo isn't interested in hearing from voters, despite her "Let me know what you think" in the letter. She's spamming us from a bogus return address and trying to get us to touch her web site. (2) If she is gonna send out bulk mail, then she'd better be prepared to recieve it and actually READ it -- rather than responding with rejection notices to every reply she gets. (3) She also sent a "Microsoft Word" document as an attachment. Reading such documents requires proprietary software that the reader must pay Bill Gates for. The reason we have communication standards (like the Internet RFC 822 that defines the format of email messages) is so that one vendor can't lock us in and require us to pay them in order to communicate with others. If Rep. Eshoo isn't a believer in monopoly, she should communicate in public standards rather than proprietary formats. (4) The way she attached those documents was from 1990; better standards now exist for email attachments. John Gilmore Electronic Frontier Foundation ------- Forwarded Messages From: ca14ima.pub () mail house gov To: <gnu () eff org> Subject: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 19:25:53 -0500 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 Message-ID: <00a873026000721CA14IQ () ca14iq house gov> February 6, 2001 Mr. John Gilmore EFF 1550 Bryant St Ste 725 San Francisco, California 94103 Dear Mr. Gilmore, Every day, there is a new development relative to California's energy crisis. Today, the San Jose Mercury News editorialized favorably on a temporary regional price cap to restore stability to the markets - an approach that mirrors legislation I've introduced. Knowing of your interest in the issue, I'm enclosing a copy for your personal perusal. As you know, Representative Duncan Hunter and I introduced H.R. 238 on January 20, 2001 to stabilize the California energy markets. Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're deemed excessive. While I typically do not support price caps, I think this is an important step to take given our crisis situation. We need to bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts. Let me know what you think. Sincerely, Anna G. Eshoo Member of Congress ------- Message 2 To: ca14ima.pub () mail house gov, gnu Subject: Re: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo In-reply-to: <00a873026000721CA14IQ () ca14iq house gov> Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 07:10:30 -0800 From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're deemed excessive. While I typically do not support price caps, I think this is an important step to take given our crisis situation. We need to bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts.
I believe that if there is more demand than supply for power, the price should rise. Only with a rising price will consumers actually cut back their demand. Whether producers are cutting back the supply in an OPEC-style attempt to influence the markets is another matter, which I believe should be investigated. The turmoil in electricity markets won't lessen under price caps. These measures will INCREASE the turmoil. If the price is capped, people will continue consuming electricity that they don't really need. This will result in continuing blackouts, since there is no short-term hope of increasing the supply. Remember when we had gasoline price caps under Nixon in the 1970's? How we had lines around the block of people lining up at gas stations, because the gas stations couldn't price the gas at a price which would reduce the demand? John ------- Message 3 Message-ID: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BAAA () pf01 house gov> From: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo" <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov> To: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> Subject: RE: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:10:38 -0500 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email. If you have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply. If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, please send a message through her website at: http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm ------- Message 4 Message-Id: <200102071553.HAA06664 () toad com> To: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo" <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov> cc: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>, gnu Subject: Re: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo In-reply-to: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BAAA () pf01 house gov> Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 07:53:00 -0800 From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> When I tried to reply to the Congresswoman's email, it sent me a message saying:
The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email. If you have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply. If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, please send a message through her website at: http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm
I believe this is absolutely the wrong policy for her to take. She's SENDING ME EMAIL but REFUSING TO ACCEPT IT HERSELF? Instead I should go to her web site? Why doesn't she go to my web site instead of sending me bulk-email? Here are my actual comments on her message:
Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're deemed excessive. While I typically do not support price caps, I think this is an important step to take given our crisis situation. We need to bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts.
I believe that if there is more demand than supply for power, the price should rise. Only with a rising price will consumers actually cut back their demand. Whether producers are cutting back the supply in an OPEC-style attempt to influence the markets is another matter, which I believe should be investigated. The turmoil in electricity markets won't lessen under price caps. These measures will INCREASE the turmoil. If the price is capped, people will continue consuming electricity that they don't really need. This will result in continuing blackouts, since there is no short-term hope of increasing the supply. Remember when we had gasoline price caps under Nixon in the 1970's? How we had lines around the block of people lining up at gas stations, because the gas stations couldn't price the gas at a price which would reduce the demand? PG&E got caught in the squeeze between market prices for wholesale electricity, and regulated prices for retail. This should be fixed by deregulating the retail prices, NOT by regulating all prices. John ------- Message 5 Message-ID: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BD4E () pf01 house gov> From: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo" <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov> To: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> Subject: RE: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:53:17 -0500 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email. If you have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply. If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, please send a message through her website at: http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm ------- End of Forwarded Messages ----- End forwarded message ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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